Belen Jesuit Holds Off Mater Academy’s Rally To Win Rematch

The Belen Jesuit Wolverines earned a much-needed 9-8 victory against 6A District 16 rival Mater Academy on Tuesday afternoon.

The Wolverines got a total team effort, as they pitched well, got timely hits and made some great plays defensively.

The game had a playoff feeling to it as fans and both teams were pumped to play the second game between the schools this season.

“The fact that they are in our district and a battle for first place adds to the excitement,” Belen head coach Jerry Albert said. “Both teams were very excited as the game went back and forth, and it was a great game.”

Tuesday’s game turned out to be the complete opposite of the first match-up. This time around, it was Belen that was able to build a big early lead.

In the second inning, the Wolverines’ rally began. Starting pitcher Alex Lavandero started it off with a single right back up the middle. Mater starter Andrew Cabezas struggled with his control and ended up giving up a hit and a walk to the next two batters.

Belen’s Junior Delgado hit a deep fly ball to left field with the bases loaded for the sacrifice fly to drive in Bernardo Manrique from third, who was courtesy running for Lavandero.

The inning continued as Alex Lorenzo hit his second single on the afternoon to load the bases again. Senior center fielder Joey Rodriguez got a double to right field to drive in two more runs. Alex De Goti drove in Lorenzo with a sacrifice fly to center field.

The runs kept coming for Belen in the third as Nick Hernandez and Alex Lavandero reached base with back-to-back singles. However, it was David Diaz-Fernandez who came up with the big three-run home run to straight-away center to make it a 7-0 game.

Alex Lavandero, who also started the first game for the Wolverines, got off to a great start in the first few innings. Lavandero gave up just one hit and struck out six batters early. He had great command of his curve ball and threw a lot of strikes.

“Lavandero had a lot more on his fastball this time around,” Albert said. “He was locating his pitches well all game, and that’s why we kept him in there.”

However, the Lions were not about to go down without a fight. Heading into the fourth inning, the entire Mater Academy team huddled in the dug out to talk about adjustments and pump some energy into each other.

The huddle worked as the Lions bats made some noise in the top half of the fourth. Danny Reyes and Albert Almora hit back-to-back doubles to start the inning and get on the scoreboard. Almora scored after Belen’s left fielder struggled to field a single from Willie Abreu.

J.C. Escarra came up later in the inning with a single to drive in two more runs and cut it down to 7-4.

Mater brought in reliever Willie Durruthy during the third to get some big outs after Belen got out to its early lead, giving the Lions a chance to get back in the game.

Mater made things even closer in the fifth. Frankie Gonzalez and Almora got on base after a walk and a fielder’s choice, respectively. Catcher Kevin Abraham drove them and the Wolverine fans were suddenly worried as the Lions fought back to make it 7-6 going into the bottom of the fifth.

Nonetheless, it was Belen’s Joey Rodriguez who came up with another big hit for his team. With a 2-2 count, Rodriguez sent a pitch over the left-field fence that just went foul. He stepped right back into the batter’s box and two pitches later sent another one off the wall to drive in two more runs for Belen.

“I just wanted to put the ball in play and was fortunate to get the double because we ended up needing the two runs in the end,” Rodriguez said. “It was a whole team effort though. We put up a lot of runs and just kept fighting the whole day.”

Mater kept battling as Frankie Gonzalez drove in Angel Ortiz with a RBI double in the sixth.

Belen went into the top of the seventh with a 9-7 lead. Willie Abreu would make things interesting with a lead off single, but Belen’s reliever Christian Solis struck out the following two batters. Rey Ordonez hit another single to make it runners on first and second with two outs. Both Abreu and Ordonez advanced on a wild pitch. With a 1-2 count, J.C. Escarra knocked a single into left field and Ordonez rounded third in attempt to tie the game.

However, Belen left fielder Alec Acosta had other plans as he made a perfect throw to get Ordonez out at the plate and end the game.

“Doesn’t get any better than that,” Albert said. “It was great all the way from Alec’s throw to David behind the plate staying with it and not trying to tag the runner before he caught the ball.”

The Wolverines hope the big win will give them the momentum needed to get on a roll late in the season and finish the season strong heading into their district tournament.

“We were not in cruise control for any means when we were up 7-0 because they hit the ball great top to bottom,” Albert said. “Its a great win for our team because we really needed a win against a good, strong, quality opponent like them.”

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